Bengal mob violence: Mamata alleges BJP, section of media ‘maligning’ State

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee accuses BJP and media of tarnishing state's image over mob assault incident in Ariadaha.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on July 11 blamed the BJP and a section of the media for maligning the State over the recent incident of mob assault in Ariadaha in North 24 Parganas district.

While speaking to reporters at the Kolkata airport, Ms. Banerjee said a two-year-old incident, a video clip of which had gone viral, happened when Arjun Singh was BJP MP of Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency.

She accused a section of the TV channels of showing the old incident repeatedly ahead of Wednesday's by-elections at the behest of the BJP.

"A section of the media and BJP are trying to malign the State as part of their damage control for the defeat that BJP has suffered in Bengal. The scandal that they ran doesn't align with Bengal's values. They presented a one-sided news item about an incident of 2021 continuously for 72 hours," she said.

The TMC supremo claimed that some TV channels are working in a biased manner favouring the BJP due to fear of CBI-ED raids.

"Some news channels are misleading people. They have become BJP mouthpieces. If the media wants to cross-check, there are people at the state secretariat. They can cross-check something with the police to find the actual situation. Even when the police are providing some information, it is not being reported," she said.

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